National Profiles of Occupational Health and Safety in Five Countries (United Kingdom, United States of America, Finland, Canada, Australia)
United Kingdom
There is a single governance body with enabling legislation and regulations. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) drives policy, via the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), directly to the government. However, the role of EU directives has become more relevant, with the HSE now acting as a portal for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EASHW). The major bonus from this is improving harmonisation with other European systems, allowing greater comparability and data pooling. The HSE and local authorities have responsibility for occupational safety and health, but the HSE is the final authority. Both the HSE and local authorities conduct inspections and employ inspectors. Currently, about 38 percent of the HSE’s staff are inspectors. Enforcement is through the issuing of notices, and prosecutions when required. There is a lack of a co-operative or collaborative approach, and the main focus is on employers, with much less on employees. The HSE provides information, but is relatively passive with respect to education. Current data collection systems are fragmented, with low capture rates. This represents a major and on-going disadvantage, with little apparent opportunity for remedy in the near future. There are modest research facilities, although these are primarily laboratory based. However, substantial external research projects are regularly contracted. There is no workers’ compensation system per se. Instead, there is a sole reliance on compulsory employers’ liability insurance and state-funded social security benefits. Litigation has been playing an increasing role in British society. The HSE’s national programmes strongly emphasise hazard identification and enforcement. However, there has been a more recent emphasis on managing sickness absence and lost time at work, but it remains to be seen if this will translate into effective and practical programmes. The major goals and aspirations are to reduce fatalities, occupational disease and injury rates. Unfortunately, current evaluation of these goals is based on data that are unreliable due to low capture rates. The evaluation of strategic projects and policy is not conducted in a systematic manner.
Note: SERCO provides independent safety, risk management and engineering services to the nuclear industry.